Colbert I. King was right, of course, in his Jan. 28 op-ed, “The show’s over, Congress. Stop the theatrics.,” when he called on Congress to stop the drama and immediately enact an increase in the debt limit, but he didn’t go far enough.
The debt limit itself is unnecessary and serves only as an occasion for the kind of legislative mischief Mr. King described. Congress has by law enacted spending programs. Congress by law has enacted the revenue measures to pay for them. The difference between them produces either surplus or deficit, as spelled out by Congress’s own agencies, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. The debt limit requirement is superfluous; it changes nothing. It is a fossil whose origins have been forgotten by history. Congress should repeal the debt limit.
Edward Steinhouse, Columbia
In his column on the debt ceiling fight, Colbert I. King asked, “How many ways are there to explain this situation?”
Then he proceeded to lay out the facts in a way I’m sure he believed was crystal clear: “Increasing the debt limit allows the country — the United States of America — to meet obligations already authorized by Congress. … We, the people, are legally obligated to those creditors. The full faith and credit of the United States is on the line,” and so on.
Democrats don’t know how to message effectively. As linguist George Lakoff told the Los Angeles Times, Democrats “think that if you just tell people the facts, they will all reason to the right conclusion. That’s why they keep coming up with fact after fact after fact, rather than framing things in a way so that people will understand why these things are important.”To me, the argument on the debt ceiling fight should be simply phrased: “These are bills we owe. Only deadbeats refuse to pay their bills. America always pays her bills.” Clear and easy for anyone to understand. Make the case relatable and a point of national pride.
If Democrats could learn to do that on every issue, I believe they’d have fewer problems getting the average American to agree with them.
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